Callitrichid Research Center

As a part of The University of Nebraska at Omaha, under the departments of Psychology and Biology, the Callitrichid Research Center conducts research in hormones and social behavior in marmosets of the genus Callithrix. The Callitrichid Research Center has contributed to this area of research since 1983.
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We are interested in the the impact of neuroendocrine systems on complex social interactions including affiliation, aggression, altruism, and cooperation.
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The CRC is currently home to over 50 marmosets from three different species. We also actively participate with the American Society of Primatologists, an organization that aims to understand, conserve, and inform about nonhuman primates.
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Welcome to the Callitrichid Research Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha.

Our primary model system is the marmoset monkey (Callithrix spp.), which is a socially monogamous, family living, biparental New World primate. Our current research elucidates how neuroendocrine systems modulate complex social interactions such as parental behavior and offspring development and the maintenance of long-term pair bonds between males and females. Our research further highlights how these neuroendocrine systems influence a full range of social behavior including affiliation, aggression, altruism, cooperation, and responses during psychosocial stressors. Moreover, we are interested in the evolution of these social systems from a molecular perspective. For instance, we have identified that New World monkeys possess multiple variants of oxytocin that have co-evolved with corresponding oxytocin receptors. We are particularly interested in exploring potential evolutionary relationships between these OXT/OXTR and AVP/AVPR1a systems in New-World primates and important social phenotypes such as biparental care, social monogamy, and prosociality. To learn more, visit our research or view our recent publications.

The CRC has a long standing of grant support from NIH and NSF, and the CRC has an active group of graduate and undergraduate students with a wide variety of research interests. Learn more about what our students are up to, or let us know if you are interested in getting involved in our research.

The CRC was founded by Dr. Jeffrey French in 1983, and has since made significant contributions to the fields of behavioral neuroendocrinology and primatology conservation. The CRC is currently home to nearly 60 marmoset monkeys (C. jacchus; C. penicillata; C. geoffroyi), and the French Lab is also home to a fully serviced Endocrine Assay Laboratory which analyzes biological samples for hormones from a wide range of species from fishes to bipedal primates.

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Research Feature

Jack Taylor, a student in the Neuroscience and Behavior PhD program at UNO, was recently the lead author on a paper published in the July 2015 issue of Psychoneuroendocrinology . Co-authors include PhD student Aaryn Mustoe, undergraduate neuroscience major Benjamin Hochfelder, and Dr. Jeffrey French, Varner Professor of Psychology and Biology and Director of UNO's Neuroscience Program.

Reunion behavior after social separation is associated with enhanced HPA recovery in young marmoset monkeys

After periods of stress, many people turn to those closest to them: their families. Those without social support are at increased risk for a host of behavioral and health problems related to stress. A group of researchers at the University of Nebraska at Omaha Callitrichid Research Center explored how interactions with the family can affect and be affected by physiological reactions to stressful experiences, using a nonhuman primate model of the nuclear family, the marmoset. To study the relationship between physiological markers of stress and social behavior with the family, young marmosets were exposed to a mild social stressor during the juvenile, sub-adult, and young adult life stages and then were observed after being returned to their families. The authors measured levels of the hormone cortisol during the stressor, in order to assess physiological reactivity to stress, and they measured cortisol again the next morning, to assess physiological regulation after stress. The researcher group found that marmosets that responded to the stressor with high levels of cortisol (i.e. more reactive marmosets) were not more or less likely to engage in social behaviors when returned to their families. Instead, they found that marmosets that did engage in high levels of social behavior during reunion with the family had better cortisol regulation than marmosets that did not engage in social behavior with their families. These results show the importance of close social relationships with the family in the regulation of physiological responses after stressful experiences.